


The Seat of the Soul

by YellowCrayon



Category: La Divina Commedia | The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri
Genre: Gen, Purgatorio, this is mostly a shitpost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:21:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24365722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowCrayon/pseuds/YellowCrayon
Summary: The sixth terrace: the gluttonous. Dante asks a question. Statius responds: "You see, Dante, when two people love each other very much..."
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	The Seat of the Soul

“If these are shades… How can they appear to be so malnourished, given their lack of a body?” Though they quickly climbed, Dante could not help but voice the burning question at the back of his mind.

Virgil smiled, and began: “In order to explain I must first provide sufficient context. Let us start at the beginning. When a soul is first formed…”

…Then slowly trailed off, realizing what exactly this explanation would entail. Virgil became a little embarrassed. “Ah... hm.” How could he go about this? Finding himself at a loss for words, all Virgil could do was look helplessly at Statius.

Statius gave him a playfully mischievous grin, knowing the source of his discomfort but still feigning ignorance. “Yes, Virgil?”

Virgil looked at Statius. Statius looked at Virgil. Dante looked at both of them. From the way they locked their eyes he could tell that an unspoken thought passed between them, though what he did not know.

“Maestro?”

Finally, Virgil sighed. “So that you may be satisfied, I call on Statius to explain this to you and provide an answer to your question.”

“Of course,” replied Statius with a smile. “I could not deny such a request.” Continuing to climb, Statius addressed Dante. “Pay attention to my words, for they will shed light on this inquiry of yours. In order to determine why the soul acts in the way it does, we must first ask ourselves how it comes to be. You see, the heart is the seat of the soul. Perfect blood, when it enters the heart, is molded into a substance that has the ability to shape a human body. It has a formative power to it.”

Statius paused, seeing Dante had something to say.

“Semen is stored in the heart.”

“Yes.”

Dante nodded, taking this in. “Please continue.”

“From there, it descends to the place of which it is better to be silent than to speak…”

**Author's Note:**

> The last line is from the Durling translation
> 
> One of my classmates described Canto 25 of Purgatorio as “Statius giving Dante the sex talk because Virgil is too uncomfortable to do it himself” and I have not been able to stop thinking about it


End file.
